Shopping & Retail

If it’s not advertising it’s magazine editors or bloggers telling us about their latest purchase, what we should or shouldn’t be buying. It’s everywhere, on our social media feeds, on our televisions, in the magazines we read. The most covetable items, what’s hot for summer, ‘lusting lately’. All phrases to get our sartorial juices flowing and whet our fashionable appetites.

Our eyes widen and stomachs flutter at the alluring thought of ‘the experience’. Bloggers tease us in a peepshow like manner, slowly revealing their latest ‘haul’s through a seductive collection of instagrams, tweets and pins. The desire of the shopping experience in everyone of us piqued.

Have you ever coveted a designer piece, but had to settle for the high street alternative?

Today I’ll explain to you how to think like a really savvy shopper. One that opens their closet and is greeted by all their fave, luxe labels. They’ve traded in their Topshop and now their rails wouldn’t look out of place on the international floor of a Harvey Nichols. A real life Carrie Bradshaw.

I’ve been excitedly sitting on this announcement for a while now as everything got ironed out and I knew it was all set in stone. If you’re from Leeds or even the surrounding area you’ll have seen the TV ads and many of your favourite bloggers weigh in on the latest addition to the high street: Trinity Leeds.

Shortly before the new shopping complex opened I was contacted by the lovely customer service team from Trinity Leeds asking about working with them. They’d been getting requests for an independent personal shopper from customers eager to explore the new centre and take in the sparkly new stores. One that wouldn’t bind them to one store and would give them impartial advice rather than trying to ‘sell’ to them. Naturally this my area of expertise, so after countless emails and a couple of meetings, Trinity Leeds and I agreed on how everything would run.

So I’m pleased to announce that going forward I’ll be offering a new personal shopping service exclusively with Trinity Leeds.

I woke up on Boxing Day morning and my timeline on Twitter and Facebook was filled with photos of the queues that were awaiting the opening of Harrods or Harvey Nichols. People that had woken up at the crack of dawn to take their place in line, in the freezing cold…hoping to grab a ‘bargain’. This afternoon I walked past my local Jack Wills store and was shocked at the queue that had formed. An assortment of shoppers all waiting for their time to rummage through the plethora of knocked down hoodies and sweat pants.

I’ve wrote sales posts in the past, if you want tips on savvy sale shopping then I suggest you check out my archive as these posts will serve you well:

I have. I cannot fathom getting up before sunrise, forgoing the luscious warmth of a pillow on my cheek and enduring the elements in hope that I may be fortunate enough to strong arm a pair Jimmy Choos all while keeping the claws of other coveters at arms length.

It doesn’t matter the discount, nothing could persuade me to give up a day spent with my family in front of a warm fire, eating great, home cooked, food.

But not everyone shares my view. Millions of people DO get up on Boxing Day and DO queue up in an attempt to grab a bargain.

As a personal shopper I always like to see what the latest developments are when it comes to fashion retail. I’ve also never hid my passion for technology, I guess I’m like a bow tie wearing tech nerd (after bow ties became trendy of course). That’s why I readthis recent article with enthusiasm; fashion and ecommerce should be my idea of personal shopping porn. However, I was left with more than a few reservations.

To summarise the article; it talked about how the journey from inspiration to shopping basket is becoming shorter and shorter. In days gone by we would have been inspired by pieces we’d seen in the glossies. Fall in love with that Stella McCartney dress? Then you’d be faced with a trip to your nearest stockist to make the purchase.

Then came the world wide web and it all became that little bit easier. Now all you have to do is find an online stockist and place your order, without even having to take off that onesie or put down your cup of tea.

But for a lot of retailers that journey was too long, that shot of adrenaline could have run out by the time you load up your computer or you could be side tracked by the latest notification on Twitter or Facebook.

With the recession dominating the headlines in past year or so there has been increasing focus on the Great British High Street and its decline. The usual culprits are blamed in the media:

The recession

The increasing cost of parking

The increasing costs and inflexibility of rents

Retail parks and malls

That supermarket at the edge of town that is pulling all the consumers away from the high street

The trouble is a lot of Great British high streets are neither great nor British. With far too many of them you could forget where in Britain you actually are. They are just a parade of multinational brands and charity shops. The Great British public complain but seldom use their high streets. Instead they save time and money by shopping online. After all, the high street isn’t offering anything unique.

But for some reason the Great British public is still attached, and believing the high street can’t save itself the government to swoops in and save it. Retail expert Mary Portas has been hired and towns are competing for funding to save their centres.

Savile Row – Britain’s greatest high street

Now let me tell you a story about Savile Row. There’s a lot our high streets could learn from Savile Row.

Savile Row is a Great British high street if ever there was one. It represents British luxury, British quality and most of all British grit. Paradoxically it represents British tradition and innovation at the same time.

For those who don’t know Savile Row is the greatest tailoring destination in the world. Full stop. Bar none. The world’s greatest. It has a rich historythat goes back almost 400 years starting with Robert Baker in 1623 . But at the turn of the millennium it faced a number of threats to its continued existence, threats not dissimilar to what our high streets are facing:

Escalating rents forced many of the the smaller tailors to move to less expensive parts of town (in 2006 it had only 19 tailors).

Commercial developments in the area were pricing the tailors out of the properties on The Row.

The internet meant that made to measure factory suits, altered to your exact fit, were cheaper and easier to get.

The lowering cost of flights to the Far East made suit tours economically viable. People would fly to Asia, get dozens of tailored suits purchased in the local currency and save $1,000s

Gorgio Armani entered the bespoke suit market in 2006 and called Savile Row ‘a bad English comedy.’ A lot of people listened.

On top of this, Savile Row does not exactly have a scalable business model in the first place. The average suit takes 12 weeks to make, they cost upwards of $6,000 and can require up to 35 measurements. Many tailors still cut the cloth on their premises. Not exactly cheap. Not exactly convenient. Not exactly an economy of scale.

Why bother with that hassle when you can get a made to measure factory suit, altered to an exact fit, in a fraction of the time, for about $1,200.

Savile Row looks unsustainable. It looks likes it’s about to go bust.

The Row’s response – competing or differentiating?

So how did the Savile Row respond? Like a British bulldog. Did it innovate? Yes. Did it change? Not really.

Instead of moaning, blaming and asking for help, the tailors of Savile Row get together to fight the rot. In 2004 the Savile Row Bespoke Association is born. A not-for-profit association, it lists its objectives as: Protecting Intellectual Property

Developing Training Initiatives

Promoting the Art of Bespoke Tailoring

Ensuring Quality

Establishing Synergies with Weavers, Suppliers, and Subcontractors

The Savile Row Bespoke label

Addressing Collective Problems

To Protect and Promote London as an International Capital of Men’s Elegance

Instead of dumbing down The Row; instead of lowering the quality of produce and reducing the level of service; instead of making it more accessible; they got together to strengthen and perpetuate their uniqueness. Rather than competing directly with the commercial threats, they differentiated themselves through luxury and quality.

Just look at theirmembership requirements.

Savile Row Bespoke firms should:

Individually cut a paper pattern produced by a Master Cutter

Have personal supervision of production by the Master Cutter

Employ at least one salaried apprentice cutter or tailor at any given time

Typically create a two-piece suit almost completely by hand – with at least 50 hours of hand work

Provide an expert cloth consultant on the premises

Offer a choice of a least 2000 fabrics to the customer, which may include a range of exclusive cloths

Retain full customer records and order details

Provide first-class after care for garments including sponging, pressing, repairs and button matching

I don’t care how much you like Armani, they won’t give you that service.

And has it worked? Bloomberg reports, ‘At Huntsman, sales are up 36% this year alone, Smith says. Rival Gieves & Hawkes says sales are up “comfortably” in the double digits, while others also are reporting strong order books.’

It’s easy to say that every British high street doesn’t have what Savile Row has to offer. But neither do they have the same threats to fight off. But what the Row teaches us is that to differentiate is to survive. Britain’s most vibrant shopping areas offer something different – think Manchester’s Northern Quarter, Edinburgh’s Old Town, Brick Lane of London. The problems with the high street started because they’re all the same. Because they sell the same things and offer the same service I can get on the internet or from a soulless retail park. What’s the difference between H&M in town, at a retail park and online? Nothing. No one will visit your town for that.

Our high streets need to follow the Savile Row model. Each high street needs to become a little British bulldog with its own bespoke bark.

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